Drawn! The Illustration and Cartooning Blog

I love me some hand-drawn typography, and this book just puts a big old smile on my face. Michael Perry’s Hand Job: A Catalog of Type explores various treatments of hand-lettering by various typographers and illustrators.

Those looking for the skilled work of traditional sign painters and letterers may end up disappointed, though. While Hand Job does celebrate the human touch that is seemingly lost in age of computer-aided design, it does so at the expense of craftsmanship by focusing entirely on messier, more care-free (and dare I say trendier) indie lettering artists with homemade zine asthetics.

Its only true shortcoming, however, is the glaring omission of Ray Fenwick.

As a contrast, for those interested in an approach to hand lettering grounded in the traditions of sign-painting, I once again can’t recommend the House Industries book enough.